The Magic of a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet on High Blood Pressure
Last week we looked at Preventing and Reversing Stroke with a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet (WFPB). This week we will look at the number one leading risk for death in the world—High Blood Pressure. [1] According to a paper published in the journal Hypertension, “Hypertension currently affects nearly 78 million adults in the United States and is also a major modifiable risk factor for other cardiovascular diseases and stroke.” [2] That’s almost about one in three adults in the US alone who suffer from hypertension.
Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, is a condition where the long-term force of blood against artery walls is high enough that it may cause health problems in the future. The Mayo Clinic states that “Blood pressure is determined both by the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. The more blood your heart pumps and the narrower your arteries, the higher your blood pressure.” [3]
The clinic also explains that high blood pressure can lead to complications such as a heart attack or stroke, aneurysm, heart failure, weakened and narrowed blood vessels in your kidneys, thickened, narrowed or torn blood vessels in the eyes, metabolic syndrome, trouble with memory or understanding, and dementia. [3]
The table above shows that blood pressure decreases as age increase in populations following a WFPB diet. [4]
Well, this sounds like a horrible problem that must need a complicated solution, right? Contrary to belief, researchers have known since the 1920s that high blood pressure is totally avoidable. A study published in The Lancelet in 1929 studied a Kenyan population whose “diet was based primarily on cereals, principally maize, with legumes, vegetables, fruit, and wild greens” and found that their blood pressures decreased as they grew older. On the other hand, the blood pressures in people not following a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet increased as they grew older. [4]
The researchers then collected data from a native Kenyan hospital where the people ate WFPB and found that out of over 1800 patients who were admitted, zero cases of high blood pressure were found. Additionally, there was not a single case of heart disease including arteriosclerosis and chronic interstitial nephritis. [4]
The table above shows that 16 year olds and 70 year olds had the same blood pressures in populations eating WFBP. [5]
Another study, also published in The Lancelet, was conducted in rural China. Researchers found that the people had blood pressures of about 110/70 their entire lives. Seventy-year-olds and sixteen-year-olds had the same blood pressures. The authors wrote that “There is no tendency towards an increase in the blood pressure with age.” [5]
Kenya and China have largely different diets and lifestyles, but they also shared a commonality. In both places, the populations were following mostly WFPB diets. This can also be seen in populations in America and Europe. A statement from the American Heart Association stated that “In industrialized countries, where elevated Blood Pressure (BP) is commonplace, individuals who consume a vegetarian diet have markedly lower Blood Pressures than do nonvegetarians.” The statement also read, “Some of the lowest BPs observed in industrialized countries have been documented in strict vegetarians.” [6]
The largest study of those eating plant-based diets to date, with 89,000 Californians, compared non-vegetarians, with flexitarians, those who ate no meat, except fish, those who ate no meat at all; and those who ate no meat, eggs, or dairy. This being a study on Adventists, even the non-vegetarians ate more fruits and veggies, didn’t smoke and led healthier lifestyles than many non-vegetarians.
The table shows that each step closer to WFPB gives benefits by decreasing both hypertension and diabetes. [7]
The results showed that there was a step-wise drop in hypertension rates, as well as in diabetes and obesity, as people ate diets closer to WFPB. [7] Ideally, eating strictly plant-based wipes out most of the risk of hypertension, but even eating closer and closer, but not strictly adhering, to a WFPB diet will yield positive results.
A study conducted by Dr. McDougall and colleagues studied the effects of a low-fat vegan diet after just 7 days. They found that following such a diet “results in significant favorable changes in commonly tested biomarkers that are used to predict future risks for cardiovascular disease and metabolic diseases.” [8] In fact their blood pressure numbers were so good that “most of the patients discontinued their antihypertensive and antihyperglycemic medication.”
The patients had to stop their medications because the root cause of the problem was dealt with. If a patient is on blood pressure medication with healthy blood pressure, then blood pressure can drop too low and lead to dizziness and fainting. So, there was no choice but to get off the pills, which was wonderful news anyways!
Similar to the blog posts on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke, a simple conclusion appears unavoidable once more. A WFPB diet reverses or cures most cases of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. The more calories from plants a person eats, the greater the benefits they gain from the power of plants! Go plant powered and dump hypertension forever!
Sources:
[1] https://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GlobalHealthRisks_report_full.pdf
[3] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/symptoms-causes/syc-20373410
[4] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(00)49248-2/fulltext
[5] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(00)86708-2/fulltext
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4073139/
[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4209065/
[9] https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-not-to-die-from-high-blood-pressure/